Muzi Li Rowe’s debut solo show at Axis Gallery looks at the intersection of technology, personal history, pseudo science and consumerism.
Rowe collects obsolete devices such as used cell phones and digital cameras. Covered in dust, hair and grime, these things were once pristine cold machines until time made its personal mark. They are memento mori of a digital age.
Rowe came across the works of Wilheim Reich from the early 20th century and his idea of Orgone Energy, a Qi like force that permeates the universe and has healing power. She also learnt that Reich's Orgone Accumulator had evolved into a pyramid-shaped object that contains metals and minerals, which is capable of generating positive energy and dissipating EMF radiation that retails for $29.99 on Amazon. So she created her own devices with a collection of techno scraps, their healing powers as yet unclear, she remains morbidly optimistic.
Artist Bio
Muzi Li Rowe builds cameras from optics taken from defunct devices and makes photographs via analogue methods such as wet plate collodion and slide film. She works with the physical elements of cameras by taking apart lenses, sensors and circuit boards. To her a camera is not only a tool, but also subject matter and material.
Rowe collects vintage devices and obsolete technologies. Handmade projectors, Kodak carousel projectors and magic lanterns are some of the vehicles for her imagery-based installations. Currently she is working on a series of sculptures of layered techno scraps suspended in epoxy resin in the form of new age devices, satirising wellness culture while contemplating meaning in a meaningless world.
Born and raised in Beijing, China, Rowe has lived in between Beijing, Sydney and Hawaii before residing in Northern California. Rowe received her MFA from University of California Davis in 2017. She is a resident artist at The Verge Center for the Arts. Rowe has been teaching in the Design Department at California State University, Sacramento since 2022 and works as a freelance photographer specializing in artwork documentation under the name Eighteen Percent Labs.
